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Business Intelligence · head to head

Board International vs Fabi

Board International logo

Board International

Business Intelligence

Unified planning, budgeting and BI on a single multidimensional model

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Fabi logo

Fabi

Business Intelligence

AI notebooks combining SQL, Python and no-code for small data teams

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Fabi has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Board International no pricing is published, and independent estimates put year-one total cost of ownership at 150,000 to 400,000 US dollars or more once implementation is included, so budget approval requires a sales process before any real evaluation.; Fabi fabi is an early-stage company with a small team, so the durability risk is real and there is no obvious migration path for Smartbooks if it stops trading.
  • They diverge on capability: Board International covers Unified model, Fabi covers Smartbooks.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Board International and Fabi actually diverge.

Attributes where Board International and Fabi differ
AttributeBoard InternationalFabi
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquotePer user per month
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Windows, iOS, AndroidWeb

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Business Intelligence).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Board International

  • Unified model
  • Driver-based planning
  • Scenario analysis
  • Data reader and writeback
  • Predictive forecasting
  • Self-service dashboards

Only in Fabi

  • Smartbooks
  • Smart Reports
  • AI analysis
  • Scheduled runs
  • Database connectors
  • Viewer seats

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Board International

  • A finance function that wants budgeting and management reporting on one model rather than two integrated systemsnot Fabi
  • Supply chain and demand planning where the same dimensional model must serve finance and operationsnot Fabi
  • Rolling forecasts with many scenarios where spreadsheet consolidation has become the constraintnot Fabi
  • An organisation replacing a large collection of Excel models with something auditable and version-controllednot Fabi

Fabi

  • A single analyst at a startup fielding ad hoc questions faster than dashboards can be built for themnot Board International
  • An operations team that needs Python for a one-off analysis but has to hand the result to non-technical colleaguesnot Board International
  • Replacing a set of scheduled Jupyter notebooks that nobody outside the data team can read or rerunnot Board International
  • Exploratory work against a warehouse where building a semantic model first would cost more than the answer is worthnot Board International

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Board International

  • No pricing is published, and independent estimates put year-one total cost of ownership at 150,000 to 400,000 US dollars or more once implementation is included, so budget approval requires a sales process before any real evaluation.
  • Implementation is heavy and normally delivered by Board professional services or a certified partner, which means the go-live date depends on a third party’s availability rather than your own team.
  • The platform requires a trained internal model owner to remain useful, and organisations that lose that person frequently find the model ossifies because nobody else can safely change it.
  • The interface is dated relative to newer planning tools, which shows up as slower adoption among business users who compare it with the consumer-grade software they use elsewhere.
  • Performance degrades on very large models, and the response to that is usually a modelling redesign delivered by a partner rather than something a customer can fix themselves.

Fabi

  • Fabi is an early-stage company with a small team, so the durability risk is real and there is no obvious migration path for Smartbooks if it stops trading.
  • There is no meaningful governance layer: no data catalogue, no certified metric definitions and limited lineage, so it does not scale to an organisation that needs a single agreed number.
  • The free and Builder tiers cap AI requests, and the daily cap on Starter is reached quickly during genuine exploratory work.
  • Connector counts are limited by tier, so the Builder plan at 39 dollars connects to exactly one data source, which is rarely enough in practice.
  • It overlaps heavily with what Snowflake, Databricks and Hex now ship natively, so a company already paying for one of those is buying a fourth notebook interface.

Pricing, plan by plan

Board International

On request
  • Board Intelligent Planning Platform$undefined/year
    • Unified planning, reporting and analytics
    • Cloud or on-premises deployment
    • Named and concurrent user licence options

Fabi

Free
  • StarterFree
    • One builder seat
    • Ten dashboard viewers
    • Five Smartbooks
  • Builder$39/month
    • Twenty-five Smart Report viewers
    • Ten Smartbooks with workflows
    • One data connector
  • Team$199/month
    • Four builder seats, extra seats at 39 USD
    • Fifty viewers
    • Premium connector
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Unlimited builder seats
    • Full connector access
    • Custom security review

Which should you pick?

Choose Board International if

  • You need unified model.
  • You work on Web, Windows, iOS, Android.
  • You also want driver-based planning.
Board International review

Choose Fabi if

  • You need smartbooks.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want smart reports.
Fabi review

Questions people ask

Is Board International or Fabi better?
Neither clearly leads. Board International starts at On request and Fabi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Board International or Fabi?
Fabi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Board International and Free for Fabi.
Does Board International or Fabi run on more platforms?
Board International runs on Web, Windows, iOS, Android. Fabi runs on Web.
Can I use Fabi for free?
Yes. Fabi has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Board International starts at On request.
What is Board International best used for?
Board International is most often used for a finance function that wants budgeting and management reporting on one model rather than two integrated systems, supply chain and demand planning where the same dimensional model must serve finance and operations, rolling forecasts with many scenarios where spreadsheet consolidation has become the constraint, an organisation replacing a large collection of excel models with something auditable and version-controlled. Of those, a finance function that wants budgeting and management reporting on one model rather than two integrated systems and supply chain and demand planning where the same dimensional model must serve finance and operations are not what Fabi is typically brought in for.
What can Board International do that Fabi cannot?
Board International covers Unified model, Driver-based planning, Scenario analysis, Data reader and writeback. Fabi covers Smartbooks, Smart Reports, AI analysis, Scheduled runs.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Board International: Does Board publish pricing?

No. Licensing and implementation are both quoted, and independent estimates put per-user licensing in the low thousands of dollars per year.

Fabi: Is there a free plan?

Yes, a Starter tier with one builder, ten viewers, five Smartbooks and ten AI requests a day.

Board International: Who owns Board?

Nordic Capital holds a majority stake, with founders and management retaining significant shareholdings.

Fabi: Do viewers cost money?

Viewers are bundled by tier rather than charged individually; builders are the priced seat.

Board International: Is Board a BI tool or a planning tool?

Both, on one multidimensional model, which is the main argument for choosing it over separate tools.

Fabi: Can I run arbitrary Python?

Yes, Smartbooks include Python cells alongside SQL and no-code steps.

Board International: Can it be deployed on premises?

Yes, both cloud and on-premises deployments are supported.

Fabi: How many data connectors does the entry paid plan include?

One. Additional and premium connectors come with the Team tier.

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